Subtle Audio Popping and crackling during volume changes. [SOLVED]

[YertYerty]

I installed Linux mint about a month ago and have had a very consistent issue with crackling and popping audio. I’ve noticed it mostly occurs when the volume changes. The crackles are very clear and obvious when I change the volume manually. It’s more subtle during the continuous playing of audio. I have tested multiple headphones in one of my three audio ports on my computer. This issue does not occur on my laptop installation of mint only desktop, so I am pretty sure it’s a hardware/pulseaudio issue. I have tried some of the sound fixes from a website that was linked here and none of them fixed this issue.

System Info and stuff (if you need more info please let me know):

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Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:a348 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP106 High Definition Audio vendor: PNY 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10de:10f1 
  Device-3: Kingston HyperX 7.1 Audio type: USB 
  driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus ID: 1-7:2 chip ID: 0951:16a4 
  serial: 00000000 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-110-generic

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System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-110-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.4.0 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.20 wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.3 Una base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: TUF B360-PRO GAMING WIFI v: Rev 1.xx 
  serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: 0602 date: 03/23/2018 
CPU:
  Topology: 6-Core model: Intel Core i5-8400 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: A L2 cache: 9216 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 33599 
  Speed: 800 MHz min/max: 800/4000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 800 2: 800 
  3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 6GB] vendor: PNY driver: nvidia 
  v: 510.73.05 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1c03 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 driver: nvidia 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa 
  resolution: 2560x1440~60Hz, 2560x1440~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB/PCIe/SSE2 
  v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 510.73.05 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:a348 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GP106 High Definition Audio vendor: PNY 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10de:10f1 
  Device-3: Kingston HyperX 7.1 Audio type: USB 
  driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid bus ID: 1-7:2 chip ID: 0951:16a4 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-110-generic 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 309.07 GiB (66.4%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT500MX500SSD4 size: 465.76 GiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 456.96 GiB used: 154.53 GiB (33.8%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 42.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 60 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 0% 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com una main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list 
  1: deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free
Info:
  Processes: 271 Uptime: 3h 59m Memory: 15.55 GiB used: 3.21 GiB (20.7%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.4.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.0.38

I'd rather not just live with the audio popping as it ruins my listening experience.
I have been loving my mint experience so far (other than this issue) so any help is appreciated!

[HAWR]

Hello YertYerty,

I have tried some of the sound fixes from a website that was linked here and none of them fixed this issue.

Which website is it?

Can you please show additionally the output of

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aplay -l

(it's a lower case L)

[YertYerty]

I went through the Bad Sound Fix Tips section on this site, http://mreen.epizy.com/SoundFixTips.html?i=1 , none of it did anything for me.

Here is that output

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**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC887-VD Analog [ALC887-VD Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 1: ALC887-VD Digital [ALC887-VD Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Audio [HyperX 7.1 Audio], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 3: HDMI 0 [HDMI 0]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 7: HDMI 1 [HDMI 1]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 8: HDMI 2 [HDMI 2]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 9: HDMI 3 [HDMI 3]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 10: HDMI 4 [HDMI 4]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 11: HDMI 5 [HDMI 5]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 12: HDMI 6 [HDMI 6]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

[HAWR]

I don't know by now, what could be the problem. Do you have the crackling only with the headphones or also with the speakers? Did you install Spotify from the beginning and is there maybe an entry for it in the startup apps?

Let's see, if the reset of PulseAudio's configuration files to default can help:

• Open the file manager, press Ctrl+H to make hidden files and folders visible. Delete the files in /home/yourusername/.config/pulse

• Open the terminal and run pulseaudio -k

• Wait a few seconds and then test again

If the problems still occurs, let us try, if a temporarily switch off of the sound chips power saving can help, which could be made permanent.Test it without a reboot:

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echo 0 | sudo tee /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
echo N | sudo tee /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save_controller

[YertYerty]

I don't have a pair of external speakers for my desktop I can test on at the moment. I did install spotify shortly after setting up my system, also there is no startup entry for spotify.
Went ahead and reset the PulseAudio config, no results.

If the problems still occurs, let us try, if a temporarily switch off of the sound chips power saving can help, which could be made permanent.Test it without a reboot:

before I go ahead and do this how would I reset this back to its defaults?

[HAWR]

With a reboot

[YertYerty]

Did the sound chip power save switch off no difference.

[HAWR]

Please boot with your installation medium into the live system and test, if the problem exists there, too. So we can see, if it is a problem with the installation or maybe a problem with the XFCE edition.

[YertYerty]

Alright, so I went ahead and booted into the original bootable iso that I had for setting up this system and the popping was present on my desktop pc. I also booted that same iso on my laptop and no popping was present...
Dunno if it is of any use but for some of these tests I have been using the song Loyalty by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. The album is free and can be downloaded off of bandcamp (not an ad). In the song between the first 1-2 seconds there are pops that are similar to what I have been hearing consistently across all audio on my system.
I was also thinking, would it be of any value to test an alternative to pulse audio to see if that behaves?

[HAWR]

I was also thinking, would it be of any value to test an alternative to pulse audio to see if that behaves?

Yes, you can try using Pipewire instead of Pulseaudio. Make a manual timeshift snapshot before, so you can restore the previous system state, if it doesn't work. On the following website you find the instructions included the reverting. But make the snaphot nevertheless.

How to install PipeWire on Ubuntu Linux

[YertYerty]

Alright I have gone ahead and installed pipewire and so far haven't noticed any popping! None when continuity playing music or changing volume. Im going to give it a few days of testing before marking this as solved. Wonder what it was about pulseaudio that was causing this...
Thanks for your help HAWR, hopefully this issue is gone for good.

[HAWR]

I'm courious if it holds